Updated on Dec 30
(Dec 30) A pair of eastern Pennsylvania homes structurally damaged by a massive sinkhole may have to be demolished. Officials said they were assessing the integrity of several other homes and the possible need to exhume nearby graves threatened by the gaping maw. The sinkhole in Allentown which stretched the width of the road is about 20 feet deep. (Source) (Dec 29) A collapsed sewer line caused a giant sinkhole to open up on busy Homewood street in Pittsburg. (Source)
(Dec 30) All sides of the large sinkhole at an I-4 rest stop in Polk County, Central Friday continued to cave – it grew in depth by as much as 4 feet, bringing the hole’s depth to around 16 feet. (Source)
(Dec 29) Water main break created a giant sink hole in El Paso, Texas that was big enough to swallow part of a police car. (Source)
(Dec 30) A water issue underground caused a sinkhole to form in the back yard of a Cranston home in Providence, Rhode Island. (Source)
(Dec 23) Shown here sink holes caused by liquefaction in the Christchurch suburb of Parklands after an earthquake struck December 23, 2011. Soil liquefaction describes a phenomenon whereby a saturated soil substantially loses strength and stiffness in response to applied stress, usually earthquake shaking or other sudden change in stress condition, causing it to behave like a liquid. (Source)
(Dec 23) A huge sinkhole forced the closure of a San Marco road in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday and will keep the road closed at least through the weekend. (Source)
(Dec 21) Massive sinkhole caused headaches for commuters in Farmington, Connecticut. (Source)
(Dec 18) A woman called for help after her pickup truck fell into a sinkhole on a street in Fallbrook in San Diego. The hole was said to be about 15 feet wide and deep enough so only the rear part of the vehicle could be seen from outside the hole. (Source)
(Dec 13) A red Kia was swept into a huge sinkhole at the intersection of North and Beech streets in Mancester, New Hamsphire when a 12-inch, cast iron water main let go. (Source)
(Dec 13) A huge sinkhole on Meadowbrook Road is one of eight that the city is working on in Jackson, Mississippi. (Source)
(Dec 12) A woman in Johannesburg (South Africa) escaped serious injury when her car fell into a massive hole in the middle of the road as she was driving. Apparently the 3m sinkhole had been caused by a burst water pipe which had eroded a section of the road overnight. (Source)
(Dec 12) Beech Street in Manchester, New Hampshire was closed between Webster and North streets because of a large sinkhole.A 12-inch water main broke Monday morning, and police closed the road about 6 a.m. A car got stuck in the hole, and police said it was difficult to remove because it was on top of a gas line. (Source)
(Dec 10) The sinkhole in the area surrounding Hanover and 10th Streets in Martins Ferry, Ohio keeps growing and is developing into structural issues. (Source)
(Dec 9) Pierre officials in South Dakota estimate they will need $16 million to pay for all the damage done to the city’s infrastructure during this summer’s flood. And one of those costly projects is fixing the sinkholes in the city streets. (Source)
(Dec 9) The sinkhole problem is growing in Georgetown, South Carolina and it is causing more damage than large holes in the ground. Businesses are having to close because their buildings are unsafe. New holes are forming, but the cause has yet to be determined. (Source)
(Dec 8th) A large sinkhole opened under swimming pool at a home on Bradshaw Woods Road in Erwin, Florida. Homeowner Brad Thelen said the noise caused by the sinkhole’s opening awakened his wife, Chemene, Wednesday night. Since that time, Thelen said the sinkhole, which was around 7 to 10 feet in diameter as of Thursday afternoon, has tripled in size. (Source)
(Dec 8th) A large sinkhole has tarnished the landscape along South Lee Highway in Cleveland, Tennessee for about a week now. Recent heavy rains saturated the ground until the pipe underneath finally gave way and flooded the area. “A lot of this pipeline has been here 30, 40, 50 years,” says resident, Jeff Gibson. “It’s time for it to be replaced.” (Source)
(Dec 8th) Utility utility workers have spent the past two days repairing leaky water mains in the Rifle Village South subdivision in Rifle, Colorado, near where a sinkhole is growing larger. (Source)
(Dec 8th) A huge sinkhole appears to be growing and crews are in a frantic race to save several houses on Irma Drive in Hanover Township, just east of the Lehigh Valley Airport in Pennsylvania. So far three houses have been evacuated but everyone else on this block is worried. (Source)
(Dec 8th) A second sinkhole opened overnight behind homes in the 2200 block of Irma Drive in Hanover Township, Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. (Source)
(Dec 7) Crews are working to repair a water main break that created a sinkhole in Philadelphia’s West Oak Lane section. 40 to 50 properties are without water. (Source)
(Dec 7) This huge sinkhole is in the backyard of the home of Daryl West, 176 Mesa Lane in Dyersburg, Tennessee. West says that the sinkhole began beyond his property line but with the recent rain over the weekend and Monday has extended into his backyard and continues to grow. (Source)
(Dec 7) Water main break causes huge sinkhole in one section of Philadelphia’s Mount Airy neighborhood. (Source)
(Dec 6) A large sinkhole located in the circle at the entrance of the Palmyra Middle School in Lebonan, Pennsylvania has grown with the rains and floods this fall but repairs are in the works. There are three sinkholes, including this one and around the school property. (Source)
(Dec 6) Authorities said parts of Kettering in Ohio are without water after a water main break happened Tuesday, flooding a road and causing a sinkhole. (Source)
(Dec 6) A water main break outside of the visual arts building at Colorado State University creates a sinkhole on West Pitkin Street. (Source)
(Dec 5) The boil water advisory in Bethlehem is due to a 6-inch water main burst which creates a huge sinkhole on Irma Drive in Hanover Township, Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. (Source)
(Dec 3) A massive sinkhole appears overnight at Beckham County near Sayre, Oklahoma. KFOR reports that the sinkhole is about 40 feet deep and 40 feet wide. Sinkholes are not so uncommon in western Oklahoma. Geologists at the Oklahoma Geological Survey say several things could have caused the sinkhole including salt or rock formations dissolving or a drought. They also say old coal mines are often full of water and when that water drains, there is no support causing the soil above it to collapse. (Source)
Earthquake Watch: North America
(Dec 3) The popping sounds a couple in Whitehall Township home, Pennsylvania heard late one September night were unusual and alarming, like nothing they had heard before. They didn’t immediately know it, but the ripping and tearing that echoed in the darkness were the sounds of their home’s foundation collapsing into sinkholes. They discovered the damage the next day. Walls had cracked. Bricks snapped loose from the exterior wall of the bedroom where they had been sleeping. A water pipe burst in the basement. One corner of their house sank about 4 inches. (Source)
(Dec 1) Water from sewer holes and cracks caused a large bulge in the concrete in the middle of the intersection, which then collapsed into a sinkhole in Sandy, Utah. (Source)
(Dec 1) Part of a tractor-trailer was swallowed by a sinkhole in the parking lot of the Sheetz mini-market in the 3200 block of Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem in Hanover Township, Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. (Source)
Sinkholes (Nov 2011) Updated
